Hello!

Anyone still there? All right. Here's a month.
-When we last left our protagonist, he was firmly in the clutch of end-of-year preparations. Music composition, a short story, and more! Did he make it out? Yeah. I did finals, and such. I don't know how well I did yet, because grades don't go up until tomorrow. I don't know if I'll have as much bragging rights as I did last semester. Music and its corequisites were hard and time-consuming, and they also made me sleep-deprived so I couldn't do as well in my other classes. For example, I didn't have enough sleep on one day in linguistics class, probably because I had been doing music the night before until really late—I couldn't say, because I don't know exactly which day it was. But in any case, the professor told us on that day that the exam would be on the Friday before exam week, instead of during exam week itself. But I was so sleep-deprived that I didn't hear her. So I came in on that Friday—sleep-deprived again, incidentally—and noticed a definite air of tension in the room, and only then did I discover that I should have studied. I could have gotten an A, probably, but I got a B–. So that sucks. I may well have gotten an overall B in a class that should have been an easy A for me, given how naturally it seemed to come to me. Music, too, might be a B or so, simply because it was a genuinely hard (and overloading) class. Russian and Craft of Fiction should be fine. Anyhow, enough about my grades.
-I also got the job at Manito-wish—I'm not sure whether I ever put that up here. So, I'm leaving on the 31st, or thereabouts. Hopefully I can take a Greyhound and save everyone some money. However, the nearest Greyhound stop is 30 miles off, in Marenisco, Michigan. (Manito-wish is right up by the northern border. Marenisco is in the Upper Peninsula.) I don't know whether there's any sort of shuttle that brings people there from the Marenisco station on the proper day. I'm going to call tomorrow. If not, it might even be interesting to pack up muy bike in a bike box and ride those thirty miles. Shouldn't take more than two or three hours. Well, maybe more since I'd be carrying a backpack. I'm kind of thinking into the keyboard here. Let's move on.
-Mom took me home from college. She took the Corolla. That was a heck of a tight fit with all my stuff. I try to minimalize, but the thing is I've got all this stuff, and I actually use it all. My bike was the biggest thing we had to fit in. Then there were my boxes of clothes, and my computer, and my box of books, and my assorted stuff that I also actually use. It was basically an avalanche when we got it all crammed in. And tough to see over in the rearview mirror. We made it back all right, though. So I got back home and discovered I had even more crap here than I thought I had. I did a big cleanup, which is still in progress to some extent.
-Also, I've been in real negotiations with Veer on having them sell Newt. It's finally happening; I've even been given a tentative price—$40–50 per style, or $150–200 for the whole 8-style set. I've done extensive work on kerning it, aided immensely by FontForge, and I think it's pretty much ready—all I have to do is put a copyright notice in it. That statement is pending comments on my font from the guy who's working with me to market it. I really hope we can have it all done before I leave, but as luck has it, his department is moving to a new floor this week, so he may not have time to get everything ready. Still, fingers crossed.
-I've also been geocaching some. I haven't done that in years. If you don't know what geocaching is, this should explain it more extensively than I can right here with my amount of patience. So, I've done a little of that, though I haven't gotten back into form. As if I was ever in form. Before I stopped, I had found about seven total. There are dedicated people who have found thousands. So far I've found three more.
-All right, now I'm going to fill the rest of this with pictures.

Jeremy's pillow. It's slicked with grease.

These next six are some pictures from just after a big storm blew through. This is Mac Field.
These are some trees we have on campus.
This is a train coming through the college.
This is the student center—most of the stuff students need is centralized here.

The student center, and also East Campus. And a rainbow.And, the student center plus that rainbow. The spots are water on my lens, I think.
A controlled burn at CERA. The person is my manager there, Larissa Mottl.
Forest burning.
These next six are the progression of the buds on the maples next to the loggia, as spring started. This is just as they were starting to appear.
Now, starting to expand.
A little more,
more,
almost there,
and there: the maple has accomplished spring.
Me, Jay, Eric, and Ben, respectively.
This was of questionable legality, so I will say no more about it.
I didn't know we had Jack-in-the-pulpits on campus, but we do. This was near where we played some krokay.
Nicole and Dan survey the difficult pavilion center wicket.
A squirrel surveys my ball (green, top right).

There are some really nice trees here. This one smelled great.
On the way home, Mom and I stopped at the Machine Shed.
We saw a truck that had tipped. It was pretty cool.
Here's a train that I raced. I won, but then I had to turn, and then I took a picture. It was by where I found a geocache.
I didn't know there was this. I found it while I was lost all over town after geocaching.
We had an interesting day yesterday. A bird fell out of the sky in front of Dad's truck as he wa driving. He stopped and it stayed still long enough that he could actually pick it up. Then he stuck it in the cage with our new rabbit. (Micah found the rabbit somewhere before I got back. It's a domestic rabbit, but after trying, he couldn't figure out whose it was.)
"It's worth two in the bush."
Then, our cat brought in a ground squirrel, unharmed. Dad caught it, and we leashed it and took it for a walk. It didn't like that. Then we let it go.
Micah and I went frogging last night. I caught this one.
Then I flung him back into the pond. The end.

An old-fashioned visit • Flashes of politics • Misc.

It's funny the events that I remember and don't remember to blog. On Sunday, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Chuck came to visit, and I forgot to even give it a passing mention. It was pretty good. They took me out to lunch, though both the Maid-Rite place and The Depot were closed (Sunday and renovations, roespectively), so we had to go to Subway. Still, it was a nice departure from Dining Hall food. By which I mean I really liked finally having a meal that didn't come from there. We talked about lots of different stuff: people they know, politics, the history of Grinnell, my plans for the future. Just sat around eating subs. Then I showed Aunt Ellen around the new developments on the campus, though she visited just a few years ago, so she knew most of the stuff already. That was a little disappointing. But I still got a visit, which is something I don't often get. In fact, I've gotten either three or four all year. It's pretty nice, especially when I get to talk about the history of Grinnell and other stuff like that.
-I'm going to talk to you about politics. Specifically, I don't believe in politics. To believe in politics, I also would have to believe in government. Now, you could call me an anarchist, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Anarchist just means I'm against government. To get rid of government and replace it with nothing else would not be good for anyone. More accurately, I'd call myself primitivist. I still have more learning to do (and my intro to anthro next year should help fill that in), but from what I know right now, I'll write this.
-I think the idea of a national border is fundamentally immature. "I'm going to draw a line in the dirt. Everything on that side is yours, and everything on this side is mine. If you try to take anything from my side, I'll beat you up." Things swiftly deteriorate into all sorts of poor decision-making processes when countries are based on that principle. Another thing that gets me is how difficult it is to even cross a lot of borders. For example, in order to get into Canada now, it's required that you get a passport. Not only is that a big hassle, but it also costs something like a hundred dollars, maybe two hundred - I don't actually know. It seems like a minimal hassle, but then consider: before there was a big imaginary line there, you needed to prove yourself to absolutely no one when you decided to go that far north. In fact, no one cared where you went. I'll just hang that out there.
-Government gets abused. Mom and I were discussing the REAL ID bill that got passed a few years ago. Boiled down to basics, the plan is to make your driver's license into a standardized ID across the nation. That seems at first blush like just a streamlining. Digging deeper, however, we find that it will also result in a merging of all the states' databases, and will eventually require you to have your REAL ID on you for almost anything you decide to do, so you can prove who you are. Our privacy is protected now by the fact that all the databases that have tabs on us are spread across the whole nation in websites and companies everywhere. When all your identification is unified into one master ID, anyone will be able to find out anything about you. Anything you've ever done that caught an official person's attention, anyplace you've ever been (these IDs will be equipped with radio scanners). It's a cinch that websites or credit card companies will start requiring your REAL ID number instead of other identification. After that, anyone will be able to find your purchasing history, credit score, and heck, maybe even salary based on this one card. I don't know about you, but that scares the hell out of me. Luckily, this bill is being heatedly opposed. However, John McCain is in favor of keeping it in the pipeline. Obama isn't.
-If the REAL ID is implemented, I won't be subject to it for very long. You'll get an Alexander Supertramp vibe from this, but I'll be seceding from the country. Not leaving it, but I'll no longer call myself an American citizen. I won't take part in anything that would tell the government who I am; I would find my own food, buy anything with cash but try not to need to buy anything at all, and generally do my best to disappear. It sounds a little bit insane, I know. But I think living in a surveillance state sounds much more insane.
-What about primitivism? Well, mainly it's about living without needing the support of a vast and unwieldy infrastructure to support me. Currently, if our American civilization were to collapse, I would most likely die. Grocery stores would run out of food within a day or two as people stockpiled goods, and the Iowa landscape offers little in the way of directly usable nutrients. Pilfering crops would only work at the right time of year. There are animals I could hunt, but it's precisely because I lack hunting skills that that would be my downfall. I could find a deer and shoot it, except that I have no bow or gun, and I don't know how to butcher a deer. Same goes for any other animal of any size. It makes me feel helpless when I realize that I'm dependent for my very life on thousands of people I don't even know. I want to take charge. When you go far down enough into this feeling, it becomes clear that you need to know how to do everything you need to survive. It's actually a fairly tall order: We often presume that we'll be able to get some stuff from civilization, but what if you're too far away or have no money or (let's go for the gusto) civilization has imploded? Everything you have will eventually wear out, and you'll need a new one. Then you have to make your own house, figure out how to fletch bows and arrows or make a spear thrower, know how to sew with bone and sinew, and be able to make sturdy tools of stone or other materials. It's not actually as hard as it seems, though. We come back to the three million years, and see that it worked for everyone for that long. It's especially nice when you realize that people formed small groups, rather than having to do everything all on their own. That way you don't have to know every single skill, as long as you know someone who does know it. However, the more you know, the more confident you can be in yourself and in your group. I haven't the faintest idea who would be in my group, but I want to learn the skills. They would make me feel accomplished, and also in control. I want the control of my life. I don't trust the government with it. After all, look at their track record.
-Let's get into the other stuff. Manito-wish has accepted me as a counselor! So, I leave in early June, and come back in July. Unfortunately, that seems to eliminate Crowduck. But, it'll be almost as if I'm there anyhow. The Boundary Waters are really an incredible area. I'll miss you guys in July. I expect you'll miss me too. But I'll still be having fun. Hopefully, I can come next year. Sometime, I'll tell you whether I plan to work at Manito-wish next summer, and then you can conceivably plan next year's Crowduck dates around it, if you want to and if it's not a lot of trouble. I promise I'll play a lot of krokay with you all some other time, and maybe even some poker.
-Also, I'm adding to my list of plans for the summer "Get a driver's license". I'll be able to go back and forth across the immense distances my life now seems to entail all the time. I'll also be able to ferry krokay players around, and buy mice and rats for my snake in Newton, where the nearest pet store is. It's something like 20 miles away. It'd be nice to be able to drive myself to Ottumwa, or other places. Also, really, it's about time. And, if I get it before 2009, it'll have nothing to do with REAL ID.